Sunday, April 26, 2009

But my wife was very pleased when she found this bike with a red bow under the Christmas tree. Not since before we were married, have we ridden so much together. And as I have said before, the Kaw Nomad is the perfect bagger. With the hyper charger and Vance & Hines pipes it sounds great, runs great, and we are having a blast rediscovering the fountain of middle age.

A one owner, like new, with over 56,000 miles, we got a pretty good deal. And as my favorite car salesman says, "There is always someone buying." This time, it was me!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

What are you excited about?Me? Motorcycles for one. But lets talk about "smoke" and how to determine if someone is adding value to a given dialog, or, as we say, simply blowing smoke. My approach is very elementary.First, how do I know the speaker?Did I find them on twitter? Did everyone see Ashton Kutcher blast past 1,000,000 followers? Amazing. Or maybe on LinkedIn? I personally have over 1300 "followers" on twitter, but after a lot more years, only 300 direct "connections" on LinkedIn. Or perhaps, one of my friends brought them to my attention. It matters.Second, trustI was talking with Lean practitioner Harry Wood yesterday. We somehow jumped to Toyota's application of Lean and the fact that their secret weapon is the culture. And therefore, the trust factor that most American companies will never understand.Third, the topicFinally, the heart of the matter. The subject matter. I was reading (again) Seth Godin's Purple Cow this morning (and for the last few days), and the concept of "remarkable" was once again playing out in my mind's eye. And the realization of how little (dare I say, unremarkable?) most communiques really convey.Fourth, passionGive me someone passionate about life and their adventure, and I am all ears! My "BS detector" falls off into sleep mode, and my attention is focused like a laser. May I suggest that most of us share this approach? Guess I just did!ConclusionAfter the fact, I will explore the validity of any claims. Spend a few seconds (or minutes, or in the case of Lean, a life time) exploring the ramifications. Often along the lines of, "What if this person is correct?"Ever wonder why so few of us take global warming seriously?Consider poster boy Al Gore and his message